Welcome back My Dear Readers to The Other Shoe. As well, welcome to the very first article of a political nature… I have written (and published) in ‘a month of Sundays’. I must admit that I have willingly silenced my political voice… for potential personal gain. My Dear Readers, you all know that I am suffering under immense financial distress. I do my best, with the tools I have… with the education that I have… and greatly limited by my physical and neurological…. deficits. .I cannot walk… without a cane… without a limp… and for greatly limited distance. I cannot stand… nor can I lift or carry… without dropping. I do my best to sit behind a keyboard and write. Out of a deep love for you, My Dear Readers. I know that in the coming years, once I have my works published… and my writing is helping to put a roof over my head. I will look back on this time with a certain amount of shame. Shame that I had yet to figure out how to turn my words into cash… without Indiegogo. .I am getting closer, every day, to that turn of the worm. I know that you, My Dear readers, will still be with me. Still reading this blog, and my words. That fact is about the only thing that gets me out of bed, each and every morning. Honestly, with the pain that I endure, each and every day, that I am working with/through this very moment? I am very much surprised that I still number among the living. .
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Proof that no matter 'where' Dan 'is'? Dan is Always a PROUD TEXAN![/caption]
.Now, for the ‘Good Stuff’. Be yea FAIR Warned. For those of a weak constitution… for those of a weak mind… for those SO enamored by the anger and hatred of the ‘Far right’? Be fair warned, the following is T R U T H. Unequivocal… Unabashed… Undeniable, TRUTH. I will take no hostages. I will not ‘bandy ’my words. What you read, here today, from this point forward is the reality of our political world… here.. in America.. today. I have no time for the weak minded. I have no tolerance for the un/ill informed. I have held my tongue (against my better judgment… and with harm to my very soul) for far too long. That ends… T O D A Y! If, because of what I write, you decide to; ‘Unfriend’ me on Facebook… withhold kindness and/or support. So be it. Honestly, if you choose that course of action? You are only doing yourself harm..[The following is written out of a sense of responsibility… loyalty… sincerity and not to gloat. I gain no pleasure sharing what I am about to share… writing what you are about to read. Please... bear this in mind... and in your heart, as you read my words. This is/was a labor of love.].I voted for Ronald Reagan for President. I was proud as I watched President Reagan work with the Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tip O’Neal. I was proud to be an American. Today, not so much… not so much at all. Right now, as I write these words sitting on my bed, the United States Senate is voting to end (what I call) ‘The Cruz Debacle’. .It is an unfortunate fact, and now a historical fact that Republican leaders have been lying to their supporters. They have been lying about the core of their run(s) for office since 2010. . “Senate Republicans were being disingenuous in their claim to support defunding (Obamacare)… “ [1].They lied about the very vote(s) they took, on legislation to “defund Obamacare”. . “The heat has been turned on for Lindsey Graham, and he is feeling it. The embattled republican senator from South Carolina is relying on misleading semantics to deceive voters into reelecting him over his two serious challengers, state senator Lee Bright (R) and businesswoman Nancy Mace… Graham voted in favor of cloture… for cloture allowed debate to end and the final vote to take place.”[2] .They have lied about a simple reality. The reality that the United States Senate would never vote to pass a bill to “defund Obamacare” and that the President Of the United States, President Barack Obama would never sign legislation to “defund Obamacare”. For the past three years Republican Congressmen and Senators have been flat-out lying just to get elected/reelected. What to know what is worse than all those lies? That all too many Republican voters… believed those lies. .Like sheep to the slaughter, Republicans all over our great nation have been lead by lies and liars. Every single Representative, from both Houses of Congress, knew full well that they had zero chance of “defunding Obamacare”. Yet they sold this false bill of goods, time and again. Election after election, much to the dismay of people like you. .The people of “The Great State of Texas’ should feel the most betrayed of all the Republican voters in all of the fifty states. Here is the reason, why:. “In January of 2011, Houston attorney Ted Cruz announced he would seek the United States Senate seat being vacated by Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson.When asked why he wanted to become a member of the Senate and represent the people of his state in that role, Cruz said, “The reason I’m running for Senate: That’s where the real battle is.”Further… “Because if Ted Cruz really meant what he said, he must go down as possibly the greatest failure in the annals of United States Senate history, taking his home state of Texas down with him.” [3].“The greatest failure in the annals of the United States history, taking his home state of TEXAS down with him.”.I am a proud TEXAN. No, right now I do not live in the great state of my birth… I awake each and every day knowing two things; I am in pain… and I am not HOME. Just because I am not there with you all… and that pains me more than I can put into words. Just because I am not there in Texas… does not mean I do not feel you pain. This man… this Senator Cruz has brought great shame to the state of my birth. .You see, as I said earlier, all Congressmen and Senators (Republican) knew they would not be able to “Defund Obamacare…” from 2010. They knew, when they lost seats; in the House of Representatives and the Senate, that they could not keep their word… with you the voter. However, they also knew… or at least were told… and lead to believe, that if they did not run on “Defunding Obamacare…” they would likely be primaried. This fear left them weakened and easily used and led. .[Just now, this minute the Senate has passed legislation (81-18) to END the shutdown and avoid default on our national debt. I am proud of the elder body of Congress.]..It is with great joy that I report that the government shutdown has ended and that the debt ceiling is raised. .Not today, but soon, I will write an article outlining my thoughts, many that I sahre with Warren Buffet, on the ‘Debt Ceiling’and how it is nothing more than a political device and nothing less than a fuse for an economic bomb equal to the atomic device dropped on Hiroshima. Not today, but soon. .Again, My Dear Readers, I do not write this article as a means of gloating. Nor do I write it as an insult to my fellow Texans, or any Republicans. I write this article as words of warning. Warning that, if Republicans do not move more to the center. If that if Republicans do not give up this govern by gun… this Govern by Disaster’? That soon, and for the rest of time, the Republican party will delegate itself to being (merely) a regional political party. .Republicans need to take heed of the fate of the Whig party of the late nineteenth century. If you have never heard, or read, about the Whig party and you are a Republican? You simply must take the time to Google the Whig party and objectively read of the fate of said party. The Democratic party was founded in 1792 and is the single oldest political party in America. For me, there is a good reason that the Democratic party has outlived the Whig party, and several others. .Again, I will not write about the end of the Whig party, today. Soon, My Dear Readers, but not today. Today I want to focus on the warning I have shared. You see, Senator Cruz’s actions have greatly weakened the Republican party. Right now, the Republican party’s poll numbers are upside down. That means that your negatives are higher than your positives. Worse still, recent CNN, Reuters’s, Gallup and PPP polling indicates that the Republican party has the single lowest Congressional approval rating in our nation’s history. That, if the election was today, Democrats would take control of the House Of Representatives by a historic margin. .Honestly, this does our nation… neither party… and the American people a grave disservice. The single fact that; a freshman Senator had more political pull, within his party, than the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives is so very backwards that it has destabilized the balance of powers within on Congress. This is not just my opinion, this opinion is shared by; Senator John McCain and ex-Senator Bob Dole. This is not the way things work in a Republic. We are witness to a gravely destabilized Republic and it is reeking havoc on our economy and standing in the world. This cannot stand, this should not stand. .I appeal to my fellow Texas, and to all republicans reading these words. ‘Take back your party from the fringe.’ Take your vote seriously, and stop allowing the loudest and most angry voice to occupy space between your ears. We simply must become a nation of logic, knowledge and compromise again. The fate of our very Republic hangs in the balance. If, right now, you limit your news to just one network. Stop. Even I do not just listen to one network. Start listening to; P.B.S., B.B.C. and even ABC or CBS. I am not asking for Republicans to swtich over to MSNBC or NBC. That, I know, is a bridge too far. .However, I ask that you temper your input. Broaden your width of your news sources and the depth of their content. Lessen the rhetoric and increase the information. Challenge yourself by opening and broadening the avenues of information. Make yourself… force yourself to become an more informed… better informed citizen and voter. This will not be easy for many Americans. But, let me share a little knowledge tid-bit. .NBC has been broadcasting news for the past Seventy-Five years. ABC and CBS for the past Sixty-Five years. Fox news has only been reporting since 1996, only seventeen years. Why limit yourself to the single most junior news reporting agency in existence? Shouldn’t your source of news at least be as old as you are? .Americans must exercise greater/netter discretion (discretion is the better part of valor) when voting. Take more time to develop your own opinions, and less time merely parroting rhetoric from the; loudest, angriest and most simplistic source of news. Again, I am not writing this to insult anyone. I am not writing this out of any desire to gloat.. or harm. I do write these words out of a sense of journalistic responsibility. As well, I write it out of a sense of friendship. Please, take me at face value. Trust that I am writing this with love in my heart… and a deep desire to help and guide. .As always, I am deeply honored that you come here and read my work. .Thank YOU!
House Speaker Boehner[/caption]
